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The good news is Ondrej Pavelec felt better between the pipes on Thursday for the Winnipeg Jets.

The bad?

Well, the Jets netminder still surrendered four goals in a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks and has given up nine in his first two starts.

“I felt a little bit better than the first game,” said Pavelec. “It’s a little bit about luck. In the first game, I didn’t have any (luck). They were great shots but I didn’t even touch the puck in the first game on those goals.

“It’s the same story. Turnovers killed us. We made a lot of mistakes and didn’t deserve to win.”

The majority of goals allowed by Pavelec so far have come on big-time NHL shots, but there have been at least a couple he’d like to have back and at the end of the day, the Jets need their puck stopper to come up with a few of those saves.

Average or below average goaltending won’t cut it, not if the Jets want to be in the post-season picture.

“I thought he played about a six out of 10. He did some things well and some other things not so well,” said Jets head coach Claude Noel.

Pavelec deserves credit for finding his game in the third period, as he made several high-end saves to keep the Jets within a goal after some wondered if Noel might be considering putting in Chris Mason.

Pavelec’s teammates certainly haven’t lost faith in him.

“He was tremendous. He made some big saves — at the end of the first, middle of the second, middle of the third — on some point-blank chances,” said defenceman Ron Hainsey. “He played very well.”

It will be interesting to see if Noel sticks with Pavelec on Saturday against the Phoenix Coyotes or decides to give Mason his first start of the campaign.